I Need Your Help . . . Multiple Pit Bull Household?

I am sorry I don't know enough about pitbulls to comment.

I don't personally have Pits, but I do have a friend who has two. They are usually fine, but she did have an incident recently wherein they got into a fight over a piece of food she threw in the garbage. She and her boyfriend had to pull them off each other and take them to the emergency vet. Their injuries were fixable, but since then, she's been a lot more careful about watching them like a hawk and/or keeping them apart. So, I guess from what I've observed, it can be done, but it's extremely difficult. (Before this incident, she had done a ton of training with each dog individually and with the dogs together.) Again, though, this is just an observation and I wasn't there to witness the fight between the two dogs. Hopefully someone else with some more personalized experience will be able to help you out!

The is woman that does a blog called Pecan Pie Puppies http://pecanpiepuppies.blogspot.com/. She has pits and is involved in pit rescue and I bet could offer some advice.

I think male-female pairs do better together than some same sex pairs. I think the rescues will require you to do a meet and greet with the dogs before you make a final decision anyway.

My biggest concern would be why do you want to adopt two dogs at once? It is a huge transition and learning experience with just one adopted adult dog. Maybe consider spreading out the adoptions until you know your 1st adoptee can handle it?

More awesome pit-centric info here:
http://www.ourpack.org/
http://badrap-blog.blogspot.com/

So here's a story that seems pretty relevant to yours...

My brother and his wife adopted a Pit about 10 years ago, then adopted a second one maybe three years ago. Both are females. Pit A had always been pretty easygoing and well-behaved, in large part because they'd trained her very well. (She responded to hand signals, that sort of thing.) But when they brought the second Pit in... DISASTER.

Pit A began snarling more and disobeying more — the training was pretty much useless at that point. And she became more aggressive. While being taken on a walk, she wound up going after a woman and biting her. Then, she and Pit B became really territorial over my brother... which led to scary dog fights in the home. My sister-in-law, in trying to stop one of these fights, wound up getting bitten and mauled so badly that she was taken to the ER. Within one year, the dogs had sent two people to the hospital.

I personally think they are crazy to keep these dogs, but to each their own. Now they have to keep each dog in separate rooms, the dogs can never be with each other without supervision, and nobody else in the extended family feels safe enough to stay with my brother when we come to visit. We also feel that it's only a matter of time before something gets out of control and the dogs attack again.

So, yes. Very difficult. Because their behavior is unpredictable and they're prone to territorial fighting, you have to keep the dogs separated. Are you willing to do that? Are you OK with the very real possibility that they will fight each other, bite people, need expensive vet care from their own wounds, or cause you to be sued by someone who was attacked? These things might not happen, but they happened to my brother.

I know Pits get a bad rap that they often don't deserve, but honestly, based on my experience I would not recommend having two Pits. I have seen too much in my family to think otherwise. I wish you luck if you decide to go through with it (honestly, not sarcastically!) because it is a huge challenge. It's great that you love the dogs so much that you want to give more than one a home, but it's an enormous decision not to be undertaken without serious consideration. I hope it turns out for the best, however it goes.

Wow, Bella! That sounds horrible for everyone involved to have to go through.

I also wanted to add that, while I am a huge advocate of rescues, the fact that you are thinking of getting rescues adds another element of unpredictability to the equation. I've always had rescues and never had major problems, but it might be one more thing to consider, since it seems it's difficult to have two Pits to begin with. (I'm guessing you've already thought about that, I just wanted to throw my two cents in again.)

I have a friend who has a breeding pair of pits - they are excellent family dogs and hers are truly wonderful pets. But...she's had them since they were both puppies since she's a breeder and she keeps them separated. I don't recall ever seeing them in the same rooms together. Usually one is one part of the house while the other is with the family. I never thought to ask, but I think it might have to do with how territorial they are.

Pits can be wonderful pets. When I volunteered at the local Humane Society Shelter training the dogs, all our pits could only be adopted into homes as an only pet - meaning they could not go to homes that had other pets, especially dogs. This was because of the unpredictability of adopted pits with other dogs, much less other pits.

I think before you make an adoption, you would be wise to talk with the handlers/caretakers at this shelter about what they think of the two pits living together. Even if they don't have any rules like my shelter did, they may tell you that they have noticed one of the pits having dog aggression or anxiety torwards other dogs.

Also, with moving into a new apartment - check that your new place allows pits and/or multiple pits. A lot of apartment complexes will not allow full blooded or mixed breed dogs that contain one of the breeds thought of as aggressive such as pits, dobermans, rotties, akitas, chows, etc. I've lived in several apartments over the years, and all but one of them had breed restrictions which included pits.

I have a female pit mix (who we rescued when she was a puppy), and a few years ago we adopted a neutered male JRT mix (also a rescue dog). I did a lot of research at the time and learned that having an opposite-sex duo would be a lot easier, so we limited our search for males. For the most part, they get along really well, but we do crate them separately when we leave the house and we do kennel them separately when we are on vacation (they were kennelled together for about a week at the vet when we were on vacation once, and there was an incident and the male needed a stitch, so that ended that). There have been a few fights when we are around, which we have always been able to break up without injury to either the dogs or us. It's definitely a big commitment, though, and I'm glad you're researching this before going forward.
It's really difficult to give advice without knowing the particular dogs - maybe the shelter you are looking at rescuing from could give you a better idea about how each of the dogs gets along with others?
Good luck with everything, and congrats on getting a rescue dog! Even though ours are each a little nuts, we love them dearly and they do really enrich our lives.

i live with my boyfriend and together we have 2 pits (actually American Staffordshires), 1 pit mix, and a rottweiler. our dogs are always together. we don't separate them at all. the only time his 2 (the AmStaffs) were separated was when the female was in heat. It is definitely easier to have opposite sexes because they will get along better, but that is not to say to two males or two females can't get along. Our 2 males (1 Amstaff and the Rottweiler) are the only ones who get into fights occasionally and that is not because of their breed. It because the Amstaff is the oldest and the Rottweiler is the youngest of all our dogs, so it is a power play. So we are careful to separate those two when playing with the older male just to prevent that from happening. My boyfriend and I have been together for a long time. When i met him, he only one male. Gradually we added more dogs (male and female). I will also say that our dogs came in as puppies but we constantly have other people dogs over to visit without incident. I would definitely advise you to be careful about adopting the 2 grown pits. You should probably adopt the first one, and then very carefully introduce it to the second to see how they react to each other. If one of them is dog aggressive towards the other, that will be a very, very hard thing to break. (at least in my personal experience) I wish you the best of luck. Just remember that pits are wonderful and loyal dogs, but you need to train and socialize well.

In New Orleans my mutt is the exception to the rule. Almost all rescue dogs have some Pitt mixed in, in addition to tons of full Pitts that need rescuing. I can't really speak to household living, but there is a pittbull that Sadie Grace plays with every morning at our local park. He has never been overly aggressive or territorial with her. It really is a dog by dog situation. On the other hand she was ganged up on by a couple of Labs and a German Shephard the other day. That almost got really ugly! You can't judge a dog solely by breed.

Breed has nothing to do with it, the dogs need to be judged as individuals. It is always the best idea to keep your dogs separated when you are away from home since you never know what might start a fight. I would strongly advise against adopting two adult dogs at the same time. The safest route is to adopt one, train it so that it knows that aggression or resource guarding of any kind with humans and dogs alike is unacceptable. THEN adopt your second adult dog, so that at least your resident dog knows the rules going into it and you don't have two clueless dogs to train simultaneously. I highly recommend the Koehler Method of training (books available on amazon.com) as I haven't seen any other method that approaches the level of reliability that a Koehler trained dog has.The ONLY reason to be wary of two Pits living together vs certain other breeds is that dogs in the terrier group tend not to release their grip and that Pits are powerful dogs. I would recommend a break stick, whatever you decide, to help break them up if anything does happen. You never know what a dog's temperament is going to be like, what's going to set them off, so best to be prepared for scuffles. Considering how many idiots run multiple Pit households without incident, I think as long as you've got the dedication to make it work you'll be ok. Hopefully they're both the mindlessly dog friendly types, good luck!

This is all really good advice. I only wanted to adopt a male-female (since opposite sexes get along better than same sex). As for the whole apt. thing, I totally understand and the bf and I are only looking for apts. that allow dogs with no breed exceptions (leave it to a couple of bad dog owners to ruin it for a very good breed!).
The bf and I were planning on getting one (and letting the rescue know we were interested in the other) but have one dog for a few months and then possibly get another dog. I posted this question mostly because I wanted to know if cohabitating was possible (figured I would crate them separately when gone, that just the best thing to do regardless of breed).
Thanks everyone again!

Hey I have a pitbull that we found on the side of the road when he was approx 2 years old. Weve had him for 2 years now and he is so sweet to humans but hates other dogs. We didnt have him as a puppy so we dont know his history. THe good news is that we also have 2 cats and he loves them so much and is very gentle and playful with them but knows his boundaries. We really would like to get another dog but he is too dog aggressive and we dont have the money to pay for a trainer right now. I would suggest that you take him to obedience school from very early on.

Also - as far as your apartment hunt goes I would be VERY very careful. We moved into an apartment together (our first one) and they said that they did not care about the breed of our dog. There were no rules against it. Well, a few weeks later one of the employees who also lived in the building saw us outside with our dog. The next day, we got a letter under our door telling us that we would need to leave the building because of the breed restriction. We went back and forth with the apartment manager but in the end we got kicked out of the building. My suggestion is to rent from individually owned apartments. Usually if a landlord owns the place he/she wont care what kind of dog you have as long as you leave the place in good condition. Just be aware that there is SO much hatred for pit bulls but they are honestly the sweetest and most loyal dogs Ive ever known!

Just saw this thread, so I’m late responding. I’m not expert but here’s my personal experience.
We had 1 dog, a 50lb female rotty-lab. My wife was out running with her and a male pit followed them home. Long story short, we kept him. He was under nourished and had bad skin problems. But friendly as all get out. And our rott-lab immediately loved him. We got him the much needed medical attention he required and he recovered just fine. He gained weight and his skin irritations cleared up.
A couple years later, we rescued a red female pit from the humane society. I say rescue because they refused to let us or anyone adopt her and they were going to put her down. So we contacted a pit bull rescue organization in our area and they went to the humane society to get her. The human society person handed them the leash and before we even walked out the door, she handed the leash to us. Anyway, we did a meet and greet with our rott-lab and pit with the new pit at a “neutral” location, a local park. We were told you should introduce new dogs in a place neither of them have territorial advantage.
Well, the meet and greet didn’t go too well but no one was hurt. We went back to the house and slowly brought all 3 dogs inside. We, very nervously, just let it take its course but keeping a close eye on everyone. Things were ok for a few minutes then the 2 pits went at each other when I was only 3 feet away. Instinctively, I jumped in to break it up and the new one bit me in the thigh. But after the bite she let go and retreated. I guess I was lucky. It hurt (especially in that area) but I was fine. After that we kept her in an extra large carrier for a couple days and let her out when we put the other one in the bedroom. Basically they took turns roaming the house. Then we decided to try again. We had no issues. Then about 2 months later, when all 3 were out in the yard playing unattended, we heard this violent barking. We ran outside to find them fighting. This time it was bad. The new girl had bites all over her face and front legs and her ear was ripped in half. There were puncture wounds above one eye and below the other as if she got bit and he barely missed both eyes simultaneously. He got the better of her but he wasn’t without his own wounds. There was plenty of blood and it was scary. So we rushed them both to the emergency room (the vet). None of the wounds were critical although it was a close call. Her ear eventually grew back together and you can’t even tell.
So we didn’t let them out together without supervision. Also when we were away at work, we kept her in one room and the other 2 could roam the rest of the house. After some time, we started to feel they were more like brother/sister. So we started letting them out together in the yard again. Then after a much longer time, like 2 years, we stopped separating them when were at work. We’ve never had another incident since.
Persephone, Icarus and Circe all live together in peace and have been for 4+ years. Persephone, the “new” girl, is an instigator. She’s extremely active and playful and doesn’t know how to play “nice”. But after she got her butt kicked, all Icarus has to do is give her a quick “don’t mess with me now” look and she backs off. Animals need to establish hierarchy. I guess that is what the fight was all about. I just wish I knew of a better way since it could have been much worse, if not fatal.
Our dogs get plenty of exercise and there is one thing I would recommend you keep in mind. These dogs NEED exercise. If they are locked up too long, they get very restless and bad things could happen if your not around.
A funny story about when we first got Persephone: Our dogs sleep in bed with us. Well, the first time she slept in the bed, she got a spot, my spot. So when I came to bed, I gently went to nudge her over. She raised her head and gave me a vicious growl. To which I responded with a vicious growl of my own and ordered her off the bed. She didn’t really understand that I was telling her to get off the bed but she did understand who was the alpha dog in this pack …. ME! It never happened again.

Good luck!

I would see how they react together at the shelter first since they're at the same shelter. I've encountered unfortunate pits in my neighborhood used for fighting and they all were the sweetest dogs ever. Unfortunately no idea how they would have reacted with my dogs since i was scared to death. But good luck!

I have a 2 pit bull home, but both were introduced to each other as rescued pups (though my boy is a few months older and my girl is about 12 weeks now). They get along just fine, but I agree with the above conclusions-I would not get a same sex pair and I would introduce them when they are younger. My pits do EVERYTHING together and must sleep together (otherwise each one gets ansty!) But I had the opportunity to socialize them young. I have a friend who also has two (now grown pits) which she rescued, but they were also pups when she rescued them. It could work, but you do have to be careful

I have two pitbulls and i keep them together all the time. One is a male and my other is a female, who has been spayed. my dogs have never has a nalltucation , ever! i have had the both since 2006 and they have done great together. I am newly enrolled into vet school and I have found, ur pitbull is not the problem, its the one who raises them. pitbulls are not for everyone. they need extra attention and need to be taught that their master is the boss, not them, pitbulls are very stubborn. but with they right ammpunt of daily exercise and consistent training , they are wonderful dogs. I am in the process of training them to be comfort dogs children with illnesses. they have passed 42 percent of their training nd re still in working progress